Other news in this STCW Training News Update:

• New training course at EZS: Safety Equipment course for seagoing sailing vessels
• German proof of training certificate MC & MFA accepted by Dutch flag
• STCW-training course of the month

Good to know about Alternative Sea time

According to article 8 of Besluit Zeevarenden, a Dutch CoC is renewed if the holder has served in a position deemed relevant by our Minister, in terms of sea time in that position for your CoC. An exception to this is alternative sea time. Alternative sea time of at least 24 months in the past five years, gained in a relevant alternative position while holding a valid CoC must be demonstrated.

Alternative sea time will only be accepted with a strong motivation that you possess the STCW competencies as described in the STCW code. Our experience shows that nowadays, merely having a sea time statement from the shipowner/employer is no longer sufficient if the tasks do not fully correspond to the functions mentioned in article 10.7 Regeling Zeevarenden. It is possible that not every function eligible for this option is listed. If you want to know if you qualify, we recommend sending an employer’s statement in which the functions are extensively described. This statement can be emailed to NL.Scheepvaart@kiwa.nl. It is good to occasionally document some tasks in a portfolio to be able to demonstrate the STCW competencies. If this is too brief, IL&T may request clarification through an interview with an inspector. In order to mitigate the risk of fraud, IL&T has made the decision to take this action. We advise you to carefully consider whether you maintain the competencies of a captain and therefore remain sufficiently skilled to continue functioning in this role as a captain through alternative sailing time.

It is not possible to upgrade a CoC with alternative sea time.

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